An Episode of War

by Stephen Crane

An Episode of War: Genre 1 key example

Genre
Explanation and Analysis:

“An Episode of War” is a short story that belongs to a genre called “naturalism.” Naturalism as a literary movement was centered on stories of people trapped by their circumstances and forced to live at the whims of nature (often depicted as an indifferent and all-powerful force). Characters in naturalist stories often have their individual growth or development thwarted by external forces, such that they end up worse-off than they began.